Code to success: VHHS junior teaches computer science to girls

When she learned that women were underrepresented in the computer science industry, Maleah Brady determined she would do something about it.

Brady, a 17-year-old junior at Vestavia Hills High School, was recently awarded the Gold Award by the Girl Scouts for her October workshop to teach a group of middle school girls about various aspects of computer science.

The Gold Award is the highest honor given to Girl Scouts and is only given after 80 hours of work into their project, which comes after the project is approved by a council.

“It was kind of difficult at first,” Brady said.

Along with her aim to provide computer science classes to girls, she also wanted to offer it to students whose own school districts and communities might not have the ability to do something like that on their own, leading her to offer the workshop for students in Woodlawn. Some students also attended virtually, she said. Physical classes were offered at the Red Mountain Makerspace.

Brady received a $3,000 grant from the National Center for Women and Information Technology for the project.

While five students attended the workshop, Brady said the COVID-19 pandemic affected that number. All the feedback she received from surveys she took up at the end of the workshop was positive, she said.

Brady said she has a passion for computer science.

“I like all aspects of it,” she said. “My interested peaked my freshman year.”

Brady took an information technology fundamentals class at Vestavia Hills High School, and while there weren’t many girls in the class, she fell in love with it. She’s learning how to work with hardware and software and how to build computers, has taken courses in cybersecurity and is in an advanced computer science course.

At the workshop, students learned to make a nametag out of micro bits, which allowed their name to roll across a screen that others could see. They also sewed conductive thread to make bookmarks that light up, Brady said. On Halloween, students were taught how to design 3D models of haunted houses. The lessons they learned focused on digital technology and are more useful for daily life experiences, Brady said.

She hopes she can inspire others, especially young girls, to get into computer science.

“I definitely want people to get involved in computer sciences,” Brady said. “It’s so broad. You can find an interest anywhere in it.”

Brady said she hopes to offer the workshop again at some point and said she’d love to work with TechBirmingham, volunteering or teaching others there. She also hopes to inspire other computer science teachers to apply for a grant to teach others, she said.

Receiving the Gold Award from the Girl Scouts was a tremendous honor, she said.

“Girl Scouts is a big part of my life,” Brady said. “It’s taught me so many good experiences and life skills.”

Being in Girl Scouts has allowed Brady to realize she can improve the community, which helped as she chose her Gold Award project.

“I wanted to find something I loved and show how much Girl Scouts meant to me,” Brady said.

Her mother, Anu Brady, said Maleah is very bright and it was great to see her share her knowledge with those younger than her.

“It was such a wonderful experience for her,” Anu Brady said. “I loved watching her really grow through the experience.”

While Maleah Brady’s passion for computer science was never in doubt, her mother said she saw her daughter grow as a leader as she interacted with each student, getting down on their level to help them understand what they were learning.

The Gold Award was a really big process, Anu Brady said. Maleah’s other two sisters are also working on their projects, but Maleah was the first girl in her troop to earn the award.

After making it past the piles of paperwork, once Maleah got into the “hands-on” portion of the project, it was fun for her, her mother said.

Maleah said she wants to continue pursuing her passion as she enters her last year of high school.